Continuous feeder for cardboard



March 12, 1946.

F. R. BELLUCHE CONTINUOUS FEEDER FOR GARDBOARD 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Oct. 31

March 12, 1946. F. R. BELLUCHE 2,396,240

CONTINUOUS FEEDER FOR CARDBOARD l Filed oct. 31, 1942 2 sheets-sheet 2 1/f3.3.u l 23 nun j 'UNITED s'ln'll:

Patented Mar. l2, '1946 sN PATENT. oFFics CONTINUOUS FEEDER FUR CARDBOABD Frank R. Beliuche, Racine, Wis., assigner to The Christensen Mach'ne Company, Racine, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin f Application october 31, 1942, serial No. 464,025

` 1 claim.' (ci. 271-43) This invention relates to sheet feeders used in commotion with printing machines and the like, and refers particularly to the continuous type of sheet feeder wherein the sheets are f anned out and advanced in a bank to a feed-oil? position.

While sheet feeders of this type function admirably with ordinary weight paper, difficulties are experienced whenever they are used for heav- 1' A tion to provide a sheet feeder of the continuous type so designed and constructed that the disadvantages of Virregular offset between sheets is entirely obvlated to thus specifically adapt the same for use with cardboard.

vanced in accordance with decrease in the height of the pile of sheets; and

Figure 3 is a detail elevational view illustrating the manner in which the feed-oil mechanism is maintained at a .proper elevation with respect to the rear portion of the pile of sheets.

Referring now particularly to the acoompany' ing drawings, the numeral 5 designates the bank supporting platform overwhich barils advancing tapes 6 move to advance a. bank of sheets S to a feed-oi! position at which the foremost or topmost sheet is properly presented to feed-oil' mechanism l.

The bank advancing tapes `B, as is customary, are trained over sets of pulleys one of which, 8, is illustrated near the front end of the bank supporting platform. The shaft on which the pulley 8 is mounted is shown provided with a gear Q meshingv with a driving gear lli which in turn is driven at the dictation of a control mecheinem il, illustrated slagiammatlcaily in Figure More specically, it is an object of thisinven- A tion to provide a sheet feeder which in its essential characteristics is of the continuous type, but

`which incorporates means for jogging the fore-u" With the above and other objects in view,

which ,will appear as the description proceeds, this invention resides in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts substantially as hereinafter described and more particularly defined by the appended claims. it being understood that such changes in the precise embodirl-lent of the herein disclosed invention may be made as Vcome within the scope of the claim.

. The accompanying drawings illustrate one complete example of the physical embodiment of V the invention constructed according to the best mode so far devised for the practical application of the principles thereof, and in which: i

'l l. is a view in side elevation of the sheet neaulasrtially illustrating this invention;

- Figure 2 is a detail elevational view illustrata' 'active position, shown in full lines.

1 but shown in greater detail in Figure 2.

In the paths of the sheets advanced'by the tapes is a Jogger i2 the function of which is to jog the foremost sheets into a pile as shown. This :logger is'mounted on a cross shaft i2' which is oscillated in timed relation with the feed-off mechanism to be swung to its retracted position, indicated in dotted lines, at the time the top sheet starts forwardly into the bite of feed-off rollers it. After the sheet so fed has'heen grippedfby these rollers, the Jogger 'l2 swings back to its Any suitable drive mechanism may be employed to aotuate the Jogger, as for instance a cam 4 driven in timed relation with the feed-off mechanism to make one revolution for each cycle of machine operation. The motion of this cam is translated into oscillation of the rockshaft l2' through a medially pivoted lever 3 and a link- 2.

The feed-ofi.' mechanism 'I is, essentially the same as that shown and described in Patent No. 2,287,784, issued to Frank R. Belluche. December 30, 1941. For a complete disclosure thereof reference may be had to the aforementioned patent. but it will sumce in the instantcase to note that the feed-off mechanism comprises a sucker il mounted to move with a lateral -recipro eating and up' and downmotion so that itssuction cup is caused. to engage the top of the sheet, lift it and move forwardly, and then back lto pick Vup the next sheet.

The position of the feed-off. mechanism is adjustable vertically and forthis' purpose is mount'- s the manner in which the bank of sheets is ail-i 55 edon opposite slides 20 mounted vfor vertical adiuating motion from longitudinally adjustable castings 2i at opposite sides of the machine. The raising and lowering of the slides to effect adjustment of the feed-off mechanism to the proper elevation is controlled by mechanism l5 including a feeler I6 arranged to ride on top of the bank, rearwardly of the pile.

The feeler i8 is mounted on the lower end of an arm 22 having its upper end xed to a rock shaft 23 carried by the slides 2li and connecting transversely thereacross. Also fixed on the rock shaft 23 at one extremity thereof is a lever arm 24 having a depending rod 25 secured thereto so that raising or lowering of the feeler i6 depending upon the height of the bank rearwardly of the pile of sheets is translated into oscillatory motion of the lever 2t to carry the rod 25 in an arcuate path toward and from engagement with trigger mechanism 26 mounted alongside one of the castings 2i. Y Y

As described in the aforesaid patent, arcuate motion of the rod 25 to the right as viewed in Figure 3 in consequence to lowering of the height ofthe bank of sheets upon which the feeler i6 rides acts on the trigger mechanism 26 to eilect 'engagement with the teeth of the ratchet wheelV 2li and permit engagement of the kparvis with the ratchet wheel only upon interruption of oscillatory motion of the arms Si as described in greater vdetail in the aforementioned patentV to Frank R. Belluche.

A cam 33 fixed on the ratchet shaft 32 ene gages with a follower 3d carried by a lever 35 piv= oted on the casting 2i and connects with the slide through a link 36 to effect raising and lowering of the slide depending upon the direction of rotation of the ratchet rWheel and cam hy the pawl engaged therewith.

'The banlr feed controlling mechanism il as shown includes a feeler il which feels for the height of the pile so that whenever' the topof' the shaft from a stud 45 carried by a lever @t pivotally supported by the table adjacent to the l driving of a ratchet wheel 2l by one or the other Jogger and feed rolls i3.

Disengagement of the latch 44' from the stud allows the lever 48 to follow a continuously driven cam 41 and the resulting oscillatory motion of the lever lstranslated through a link $8 to a lever B9 freely pivotally mounted on the shaft 50 carrying the gear i0. This shaft also has a ratchet wheel 5i xed thereon, and a pavvl 52 on the end of the lever 48 opposite the link (i8 cooperates with the ratchet wheel during cecile lation 'of the lever 49 by the lever 46 to impart rotation to the shaft 50. Since the shaft is geared to the shaft for the pulley 8, it follows that the tapesv are thus driven to carry the sheets forwardly toward the feed-olf position.

While the operation of the feeder may be apparent from the drawings and the foregoing de scripticn, for convenience it is summed up as follows:

The bank advancing tapes 8 advance the bank of sheets S toward the feed-o position. At the same time the Jogger I2 :logs the foremost sheets into a pile. The functioning of the drive for the bank advancing tapes is controlled by the mechanism Il, the feeler I l of which feels for the height of the pile. Thus, not only is the height of the sheet tc be fed olf maintained in proper relation to the feed-off mechanism, but in addition the rear eds-e of the sheet, being controlled by the jogger d, is in a predetermined position at all times, regardless of irregularities in offset between adjacent sheets oi the bank.

The manner in which the feed-ofi mechanism functions to pini; oil? the topmost sheet 'in timed relation with the logger motion i2 is, ci course, readily apparent and needs no ilzrther esplanation. y From the foregoing description, tasen in con nection with the accompanying drawings it will be readily apparent to those skilled in 'the nrt that this invention provides a substantial improvement in sheet feeders of the continuous type in that it utilizes the advantages of a pile and at the same time retains the continuity of feed which char- Y acterizes the continuous or banls type feeder, and

the pile drops below a predeterroined level 'the bank is advanced tobring sheets forward and restore the top sheet to its proper elevation.

The manner in which the bank is advanced whenever the top of the pile drops below a pres determined level andthe mechanism for eecting this result is essentially the same as that described in the aforementioned patent to Freni:-

R. Eelluche, No. 2,267,784. VThis mechanism includes Aa depending rod d@ hired to move with the ieeler il with its lower end engageable with a medially pivoted lever di tcswing the lower end B2 of the lever upwardly when the height ci the pile is less than desired. Such motion of the lever 4l is translated into rotation of a' longitudinallyy extending shaft t@ through a neer 43'- engaged with-the end d2 of the lever di to eiIect disengagement of a latch bar dil carried by that it thereby renders such feeders wholly satisfactory for use with all types of stock and particularly cardboard.

What I claim as :my invention is:

In a sheet feeder oi the continuous type where in sheets are ied in .a bans to a predetermined feed-oil position, the combination of: means for advancing a bank of sheets toward the feed-oh position; a :logger in the path of the sheets for -intermittently engaging the front edges ci? the foremost sheets of the bank and jogging them into a pile at Vthe feed-od! position; mechanism for controlling the operation ci the bank advancing means including a feeler adapted to feel for the height ci the pile; i'eedwdI mechanism operable upon the rear portion of the topmost sheet of the pile for meeting-movement ci the sheet forwardly od the' pile across the logger; and con trol means for maintaining said feed-od mechanism at a proper operating elevation with respef* to the pile including afeeler engaging with the top of the bank near the rear oi the pile.

FRANK n. Barahona. 

